Did Royal Niger Company/Unilever sell Nigeria to Britain just like Burna Boy said in his African Giant Album?

So Burna Boy released his much anticipated ‘African Giant’ album today July 26th and it is trending on Twitter, mostly over the claim of Nigeria starting off as a business deal for Britain.

Going back to ‘history’ and recounting how Nigeria started off, Burna Boy said in ‘Another Story’ off the African Giant album;

To understand Nigeria, you need to appreciate where it came from. In 1900 Britain assumed responsibility for the administration of the whole of what we now know as Nigeria from the Niger company and then gradually over the years, British protectorates were established through out the territory.  In 1914, the protectorates were almagamated into one Nigeria.

Actually, there’s one additional detail that bears mentioning.
In order to take over the territories from the Niger Company, the British Government paid 865,000 pounds. A huge amount in 1900

So let’s establish a simple truth, the British didn’t travel halfway across the world just to spread democracy. Nigeria started off as a business deal for them, between a company and a government. Incidentally, the Niger Company is still around today. Only it is known by a different name, Unilever

But that’s another story

The claim ignited a social consciousness conversation on Twitter, and here are some tweets below;